TAMMY WYNETTE – “Stand By Your Man”
I only have a surface-skimming knowledge of country music, but it’s pretty obvious what’s great about it: songs about grown-up situations and emotions, with clear, well-turned lyrics, whose singers often have gorgeous, expressive voices – what’s to dislike? But stereotypes stick to the genre – particularly at an ocean’s distance: sentiment, traditionalism, religiosity, a willingness to be trite or didactic. These are big hurdles for a lot of listeners, though none of them is as true, as often as the people who utterly dismiss country might imagine. None of them are even a deal-breaker for me – something I like about country is that I can disagree with what’s in a song at the same time as I enjoy it.
Country is a near-total absence from British charts now: in the 1970s, though, there was a clear market for it and the big hits did extremely well – especially if, as in this case, they had year to build up demand before an eventual release. I didn’t know, coming to write this entry, that “Stand By Your Man” wasn’t a 1975 hit, and knowing that Wynette and George Jones divorced in the mid-70s I’d heard bitterness in its tears, and its lyrics that essentially present men as helpless, defective children. My Dad, who loves the song, used to chuckle over Wynette’s multiple real-life marriages, understanding that the pleasure in country lies partly in how it briefly, artfully paints a life and situation in a few minutes. Whether the singer lived the song didn’t seem to be the point.
I may enjoy country but ultimately I don’t share its sensibilities: the lachrymose wobbles and almost-cracks in the vocal do feel over-the-top to me, and the record can’t quite win freshness back from crushing over-familiarity. But the sardonic, wounded intensity of Wynette’s performance is a keeper whether it’s your first time hearing it or your thousandth.
6
Wow! Am I really going to be the first comment?!
I too have a less than huge knowledge of Country buti know what i like and two of my favorite kinds are the 40s/50s “white mans blues”sounds of Cash, Williams, etc and at the other extreme the ultra-syrupy, funny-if-it-wasnt-slightly creepy Porter Wagoner, “Drop Kick Me Jesus” stuff. This falls between the two stools-too genuinely soulful (for want of a better word)to be a cheesefest like, say, Red Sovine but on the over hand, too maudlin and over-sincere to compare with Dolly or Kenny’s work in the 70′s. Not a bad record by any stretch of the imagination but it doesnt really move me. 5 out of 10.
(PS Wheres ur mark out of 10, Tom?)
I know it best from its appearance in the Jack Nicholson film Five Easy Pieces (one of his best, if not the best). That film was from well before 1975 so yes, I knew it before it was a number one, and I’m not sure I knew it was a number one.
Country music is an area where I feel uncomfortable treading. I’m well aware that I share many of the prejudices that Tom alludes to, and in the past I’ve been liable to say things like “I like all kinds of music – except Country”. But then, there’s a lot of country music that I have liked a lot. I like Johnny Cash, for example. We’ve just been discussing Buddy Holly, who would presumably have regarded himself as a Country performer first and foremost. And where would we be without Bob Dylan, after all?
But still, while I can appreciate the intensity of what, if you either ignore the mawkishness or treat it as irony (almost certainly not intended), is a pretty good song there’s something about this kind of thing that sets my teeth on edge. I think it’s another prejudice – the twangy delivery that is as much the mark of the archetypal Country singer (and just as irritating) as the affected finger-in-ear nasality of a certain kind of traditional folk-singer.
Though utterly familiar, I can’t place it in a 1975 context, only one that takes me back to my sixth-form days, and another in the future when things appeared to be falling apart. But we’ll get to that time in due course.
In West Central Scotland country was, and is, the dominant popular music, and given the historical links between Scots emigres and Appalachian settlements this is hardly surprising, but generally on the mainstream charts it had hitherto largely appeared in heavily diluted form (“Make The World Go Away,” “It’s Four In The Morning,” Jim Reeves passim) or as a novelty (“A Boy Named Sue”).
(Indeed the biggest selling single in Scotland in 1964, far outdoing Beatles, Stones and Reeves alike, was “Nobody’s Child” by the Alexander Brothers, which didn’t chart at all nationally until Karen Young covered it five years later – they were a sort of proto-Proclaimers with kilts and accordions and no spectacles)
That having been said, I cannot for the life of me remember how or why this record suddenly took off in Britain eight years after it had been recorded (theories and explanations are welcome). A suitably tearful and stirring performance to be sure, but it’s unsettling how something like “I Am Woman” could miss our charts completely and this go straight to number one.
Oh, and Tom, how many marks are you giving this?
I’m sure others will be better versed than me in the story of Tammy Wynette’s marriage to George Jones, the wife-beating allegations and the exhumation of her body a year after her death – and we’ll have a full discussion further on! As for the song itself (whose appearance here will be a surprise to our North American readers, since it was originally released in 1968), it said nothing to me as I became a teenager while it was number 1, and it was one of those number ones that you just tolerated while waiting for something better to come along (although the one that did come along was much, much worse). It’s a decent song and well performed, but not really part of my world.
My first reaction on thinking about the song was that my favourite version was the one on the Blues Brothers soundtrack, performed by the band behind a cage protecting them from flying bottles in the bar where “we do both kinds of music – country AND western”. It got me thinking about the tension between country, which is lampooned in the film, and black music, which is celebrated. Some tension must exist for obvious historical reasons – I wonder if that’s still the case?
There was a nice exchange at the Grammys this year when Vince Gill picked up the award for best country album, presented by Ringo Starr, and said “I just got an award from a Beatle! That ever happen to you yet, Kanye?” Cut to fellow Grammy winner Kanye West in the audience with no choice but to smile for the cameras. But what were the emotions behind it?
Wot? Country music at the top of the UK singles chart? What’s that all about, then? As Alan Hansen would say: “Shocking defending!” In analysis, it seems to me that this was another one for the girls but certainly not the “wimmin”, who would have been infuriated by Tammy’s subservience to a bloke who’s almost certainly a bastard. On a comic note, I remember when Bill Clinton was up for election the first time and his wife (can’t remember her name) said straight out, with Bill sitting next to her, that she would be quite different as First Lady and that she would certainly “not be Tammy Wynette”, which was mighty strange when you think about it because that’s precisely whom she ended up being when Bill got up to serious naughties with Monica etc. He got away with it all, of course, because he’s a Democrat but that’s another story. As far as SBYM is concerned, this was another which left me open-mouthed as to how the hell it took our chart by storm, especially so many years after it was recorded. I just couldn’t figure out its catchment area. It seemed to be a fish out seriously out of its water. All very odd.
Nothing suspicous about Tammy’s death: from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/125702/the_life_and_times_of_tammy_wynette.html?page=6
At the time of her death, it was reported she had died in her sleep of a blood clot in her lungs. Tammy’s daughters launched a very public smear campaign with her widower, George Richey. The daughters launched a campaign to have their mother’s body exhumed and autopsied. To set the rumors to rest, George Richey authorized the, and the autopsy revealed that drugs, namely Versed, a painkiller, were present in Tammy’s system at the time of her death, and that she had died of a cardiac arrhythmia.
Let’s not forget her great performance with KLF on ‘Justified And Ancient’, which sadly only got to number two so won’t be discussed here. I don’t know why this single was released so late. I do know that Lyle Lovett released a version of it on his third album that is tender and completely lacking in irony.
Going back briefly to Bobby Goldsboro’s second wind with “Honey,” I do recall that its revival was due to an absurd competition Noel Edmonds held on his R1 breakfast show where you voted for The Saddest Song Ever, and “Honey” came top. And I hated it the second time around even more avidly than I did the first (tragic wife as Old Shep? No thanks, Bob)…
With SBYM I fancy that one Mr Wogan might have had a hand in this but I can’t honestly remember.
Certainly there was/is some conflict between country and “black music”(re: #4),no doubt due to the conflict between certain white and black people (particularly in the areas where country first originated) but theres been plenty crossover too- Elvis, the “White Negro”,obviously,soaked in both the country and blues sounds of his youth but other examples could include Chuck Berry and James Brown both covering Hank Williams songs, Dolly Parton recording Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”, Tina Turner releasing several country albums in the 70s, and the success of Charlie Pride a hugely popular black country singer- not forgetting rapper Nelly and Country singer Tim McGraw’s duet “Over and Over” a few years back.
I’d say that the musical cross-fertilization between the two genres outweighs any major tensions-perhaps the most obvious reason why Vince Gill made his comments at the Grammys is that he’s maybe just a bit of an arse.
Unfortunately whenever I see the name Vince Gill I think not of country or Kanye but of top Tory crooner Vince Hill who nearly had to be written about here back in ’67 with his heartrending rendition of “Edelweiss.”
In David Lodge’s novel, Small World, a character at a literary conference asks if the novel was born when the Epic fucked the Romance. Can it be that Rock was born when Country fucked the Blues?
If ever there was a classic recording rendered almost unlistenable by familiarity and prejudice, it’s this. The familiarity of the song is partly the classicism of the songwriting, the arrangement and the performance: it’s so patently ‘how a song should be done’ that it must have struck ears at the time as already familiar (rather like Paul McCartney’s biggest hit, but that’s for later). Certainly, a song that spawns its own parodies so quickly must have a level of emotional instantaneity about it. And it’s emotional directness that for me characterises much country music, from the philosophically regretful (Hank Williams’s ‘It’s no use to deny / We’ve been living a lie’) to the plainspoken avowal of feeling (Tom T Hall’s ‘Thank you for your precious time / Excuse me if I start crying’).
In our ironic times, of course, this is easy to laugh at, and STAND BY YOUR MAN has become ironised in its own way: as kitschy excess (a drag queen standard) or as anti-feminist submission (Hilary Clinton). One year, returning home from the Edinburgh Festival, I reflected that if I had a pound for every time I’d seen STAND BY YOUR MAN used ironically in a feminist theatre show, I’d have £2. A literal-minded reading of the song would accuse it of countenancing domestic abuse but the song’s much subtler than that.
As Tom says, country music’s classicism allows one to admire the whole experience of a song, without subscribing to the detail of its contents. I have a hefty Louvin Brothers box set that is regularly punctured by gruesome Baptist pieties that would appal me in a friend, but are enjoyable simply because it gives another chance to hear the astonishing thin steel of their harmonies.
Tammy Wynette breaks all the rules. The purists of country music often say that the catch in the voice, the emotional sob that parodists love to hate, should be reserved for the last verse, ‘when you’ve got a damn reason to cry’. (This is one of the many reason why Garth Brooks was widely deprecated in the country music fraternity – as Kinky Friedman once put it, ‘Garth Brooks is my second favourite country singer. My favourite is everybody else.’) Tammy Wynette gets crying right from the first line.
But this sets up the basic dichotomy of the song, the sorrows of an unhappy marriage and then the ability (embodied wholly in the voice) to soar above these problems and find strength from somewhere. It may have played into a rather particularly British conception of emotion; that fighting back the tears and soldiering on is a rather noble way to live. Tammy Wynette’s voice is an extraordinary instrument that can seemingly channel pure emotional strength, going from 0 to 60 in seconds. (Listen to the unbelievably mawkish mainly-spoken ‘No Charge’; when she eventually sings, it somehow justifies all the hideous melodrama we’ve just gritted our teeth through). I suspect the reaction of most people who like it is that they see it as more than a musical manifesto by Homemakers for America; it’s the feminist equivalent of a tragic gay anthem, a song that embodies the miseries of a bad marriage and the way one can surprise oneself with the strength you find to carry on.
Why did it become a hit then? Who knows. The Tammy Wynette/George Jones on-off divorce had been a soap opera for a couple of years at this stage, and unusually documented in song , but none of this seems of has registered on this side of the Atlantic. Was there some TV show this featured on?
Candi Staton’s cover is worth a listen, too.
Candi Staton’s version is shatteringly brilliant; virtually turns the song on its head.
Sadly, there is an inferior domestic version of “No Charge” to be taken into Popular consideration in due course…
The Louvin Brothers are a good comparison; such superb and oddly silky harmony work that one is tempted to overlook what they’re singing, which in most cases is as extreme as anything you’d find in contemporary hardcore rap. The grain of their voices exceeds the content.
Good post, Dan.
Marcello mentioned in the “Which Decade” survey on Troubled Diva that Solomon King’s “She Wears My Ring” was beloved of prospective wifebeaters all over Scotland. Wonder if this was what their other halves were listening to?! I think BBC2 started showing “Sing Country” sometime in the 70s, and perhaps there was a clip of Tammy at the Opry there.
I remember the Noel Edmonds thing, though I think it was called “most emotional song ever”. IIRC, “Patches” by Clarence Carter was number two in that list.
Dan’s words about “a song that spawns its own parodies so quickly” remind us that Tammy’s next hit was soon to do just that. Veering close to spoiler territory, but “I couldnae keep ma hands off it…”
I wish I could shed some light on how this came to be a hit 7 years on, but sadly I’m as mystified as everyone else. (Some sort of news-related tie-in with her divorce from George Jones the same year?) Anyhow, here’s a quote from Tammy, talking to the NME in 1991, around the time that “Justified And Ancient” was released:
“There’s songs of mine that I get really sick of. When you consider I recorded ‘Stand By Your Man’ for the first time 23 years ago and I’ve probably sung it four or five times a week since then, you can imagine how it gets to me. Still, it gave me a career, so I really shouldn’t complain.”
With hindsight, it seems a shame that the song was so angrily condemned by the feminist movement, as this seems to indicate an obstructive over-literalism and an inability to empathise with the song’s undercurrents of sadness and pain. But such were the times, and there were serious battles to be fought, and who’s to say that the nuances that we see now were even detectable then, under the sheer weight of that titular polemic?
wiki sez it wasn’t actually released in the uk until 1975 — i guess this belatedness needs its own explanation* — but it might have been gone on to be a hit in ’75 because (a) it was played a lot (bcz uk djs already knew it and liked it, and felt it hadn’t had a “proper chance” yet) and (b) the public liked it (bcz it’s a strong clear memorable song which resonated with them)
it doesn’t have to be a piggyback reason does it?
*but it might just have been a bit of label slowpokery back at the time — or some now-forgotten issue of licensing and distribution unresolved (was worldwide simultaneous release the rule yet in 1968?) — which held it back enough that the label felt they missed their window?
TOTP Watch: Tammy Wynette recorded studio performances of both this and D.I.V.O.R.C.E for the BBC on the same day. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the BBC didn’t keep either.
If Ian Gittins’ enjoyable TOTP book is to be believed, Wynette was insufficiently briefed about what to expect, and was upset to be appearing inbetween ‘Black Pudding Bertha’ by The Goodies and ‘Wombling White Tie and Tails’, protesting that “I was told that this was a music programme, not a freak show!”
Yes! What is so remarkable about Candi Staton’s version is that it entirely expunges any suggestion that the problem in the relationship is that the man has behaved badly in the trad country sense (drinkin’, cheatin’, beatin’ on his woman). It’s a reading that takes very seriously the line about ‘he’s just a man’ and it seems more about the fallibility of men, their (sorry, our) weaknesses, inadequacies, and it becomes about a heartfelt determination to see men through these moments.
It’s not as if this is the only 1975 number one that reached number one years after its release, is it? Although the one I have in mind did have an earlier chart life at a time when it was more apposite. I’ll have more to say on why that is a mystery to me when we get there.
I can’t think of this song without being reminded of the wonderful Sesame Street parody, ‘Stand By Your Can’ by Hammy Swinette. Alas it’s only on Youtube in Dutch: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0DZP2Bx4BLg
I put my mark out of 10 (a 6), date and # into the usual fields and then they didn’t appear – and I was racing off to East Grinstead to be at a focus group so no time to correct it. I will have a tinker.
Tom, all i can think of is that you might be putting the value (6 for the score) in to the wrong box. there is the drop down menu to choose ‘pop_score’ from. The box next to that is NOT the box to put the score in – that’s an alternative to specify data not listed in the menu.
It’s the next and larger box under the legend ‘Value’ that you should fill in. When you hit submit the page doesn’t reload, but you should see your data listed in the ‘Custom Fields’ section of the page directly above where you input the data.
Hope this helps fix things.
No, it’s not that – I have been using the system happily for ages.
It only messes up on my work machine – did you upgrade wordpress recently as it has had this problem after similar things? Internet Explorer probably to blame!
The first time I became aware of this song was when Hillary Clinton cited it!
I’ve always liked the ska version by Marlene Webber on the Trojan ‘Tighten Up Volume Four’ compilation. I think that its near-impossible for any female singer who approaches this song with sincere intent not to radiate the hurt of lived experience.